Our look back at the highlights of the smartphone’s lightning-fast rise to prominence

While the market didn’t really go completely crazy until 2007, the development and marketing of what we think of as smartphones goes back to the early 1990s. Here’s a look at some of the landmark devices that we’ve seen along the way.

While they left out the “phone” part of the equation, modern smartphones are direct descendants of the PDAs, Palm Pilots, and other associated handhelds that saw use in the mid to late 1990s. Pictured here is the Pilot 5000, from 1996.

And then, in 2007, it all changed. Apple built on its wildly successful iPod devices and came up with the iPhone, which was the first smartphone to get general consumers as excited about the idea as the business world was.

The first hint that the Android platform might be breaking into the mainstream came with the Motorola Droid in 2009. The device combined a physical keyboard with robust hardware, an impressive screen, and free GPS navigation.

Apple’s redesigned iPhone 4 once again pushed the limits of the technology available in 2010, though a high-profile technical issue with call reception provided a rare blemish on the company’s glistening reputation.

The Galaxy S III, introduced this summer, is part of a long line of ostensible “iPhone killers,” but it’s the first to dethrone Apple’s powerhouse from its place atop the sales charts (albeit briefly).